Delaware High Court Green-lights One Of History's Most Massive Legal Fees

Two law firms will earn a whopping $300 million for representing investors suing over a corporate merger—thanks to the Delaware Supreme Court, the Wall Street Journal reports.In December, Delaware state judge Leo Strine awarded the firms $300 million for their work on a suit fighting mining giant Grupo Mexico’s takeover of Southern Peru Copper.

The high court ruled that it shouldn’t interfere with a fee award unless a judge handed it down capriciously.

Strine’s ruling got some attention because of his musings on lawyer pay, the WSJ reported. Here’s an excerpt from his opinion:

“[T]here’s an idea that when a lawyer or law firms are going to get a big payment, that there’s something somehow wrong about that, just because it’s a lawyer. I’m sorry, but investment banks have hit it big, a lot of the bigger plaintiffs’ lawyer firms have hit it big. They’ve hit it big many times. And to me, envy is not an appropriate motivation to take into account when you set an attorney fee. It’s not.”